Friday, September 19, 2008

Late Evening Bouldering

I took a couple of hours to drive up and try Window Shopper again but it was a bit too warm and humid to get much progress. The edges on the lower part are really painful to hold onto and the upper slopers simply won't stay. By the time I left it was pitch dark. Lots of chalk on Butt Slammer--anyone have news?

Go to this link for the NYT's take on Hueco. It's too bad that the writer talks about how boulderers and their ilk pay no attention to the art.

(Additional commentary by me, following sockhands' comments)The article is very unhelpful in its characterization of climbers and inaccurate as well. For example, I would hate to see it used as fodder by the land managers for further restrictions.

"Hueco Tanks park, well known to rock climbers, attracts thousands of boulderers and their ilk each year, but most concentrate on their journey over the terrain without paying much attention to the pictographs hidden in it."

6 comments:

not really true. tons of boulderers take photos of rock art and get psyched on it. a number of boulderers have hueco rock art tatooed on em. yes, the primary focus is the climbing, but that should be expected. for current users, hueco is as much about living in the past as it is living in the present. most of us go to hueco to experience living in the present for at least a few days of our tourtured lives. i understand that from an art history perspective this seems very myopic, but it also seems very myopic for an art history fool to suggest that this place is not special to climbers just because their focus is not on the past.

now, i do agree that native american culture placed a very high importance on heritage and history and i certainly uphold this as important and noble for all fools past and present and future. history helps explain who we are and how we should live our lives... not in a limiting sense, but in a purposeful sense. can climbers lose this? yes, but the problem goes deeper than the inscription of ancient ink and scratchings on rock.

finally: the chalk you saw on butt slammer/slut bammer is from a new crew of college fools from the dirty south. kids were PSYCHED! alex... his name comes to mind... other kid had dreads and a name like squirrel. both were making some strong moves on it.... just hope it can stay together...

Saw you up there trying Window Shopper again. I think you need to wait until the temps drop about 10 degrees. I still think you should try the Avs Wall traverse and set that one straight. It is only about a 15 minute hike and you need minimal pads. It stays dry during the winter too.